Welcome to Frank Pozen's Big Bad Blog. A lot of folks have been asking me to update them about my recovery. So I thought I would start a blog primarily to do that but also to talk about other topics of interest including the wrestling business and whatever else I can think of. I plan to update this on a regular basis so check back and leave a comment if you wish.

Thursday, June 01, 2017

Sara McMann vs Ketlen Vieira added to July 29 UFC show

Dana White announced on the Unfiltered podcast that Sara McMann vs Ketlen Vieira has been added to UFC 214 July 29 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. I expect this match to air on the prelims on Fox Sports 1 in the US and TSN in Canada. Sara is on a three fight winning streak but if she wants to get back in the title picture, she needs to face a higher caliber opponent. She's going to turn 37 years old in September so the clock is ticking. After Sara beat Alexis Davis, Sara was supposed to face Liz Carmouche. But Liz got injured and Sara easily beat late replacement Gina Mazany. Maybe she's trying to keep active but sometimes fighters have to push for a better opponent. Ketlen trains at Nova Uniao in Manaus, Brazil. She's 8-0 so I understand that might have been incentive for Sara to fight her. Ketlen won her first two UFC fights but she wasn't impressive in either fight. First she beat Kelly Faszholz by split decision where neither fighter looked good and Ketlen used a lay and pray offense. Then she beat Ashlee Evans-Smith by unanimous decision. Ketlen was quicker than Ashlee and she won the first two rounds easily. But she ran out of gas in round three. So she won both fights but I said after her last fight that we need to see Ketlen face a higher competition level. So a win for Ketlen gives her a big boost. This fight makes Sara look like a gatekeeper and maybe that's what she is at this point. She probably doesn't know it though. White also confirmed that Cris Cyborg will be on this show. But he says he hasn't figured out her opponent (probably Cat Zingano) or the Welterweight title implications. I will comment on this mishugas when it's settled. But I will say there is only one person to blame for this mess and that's Dana White.